Adjustable and expandable display rack riser



June 29, 1965 s. G. TOKASH ADJUSTABLE AND EXPANDABLE DISPLAY RACK RISER Filed April 2, 1963 INVENTOR. $75 52 G Emu f, 7Q

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,191,776 ADJUSTABLE AND EXPANDABLE DEPLAY RAilK RE'ER Stephen G. Tokash, 8008 Linden St, ll'iunster, ind. Filed Apr. 2, i963, Ser. No. 279,0d9 6 Claims. (Qt. 211-55) This invention relates to adjustable and expandable risers for merchandise display racks such as are used for the display of greeting cards, hosiery and various other flat packaged articles of mechandise oifered for sale in self service and other retail establishments.

Display racks for this type of merchandise are usually relatively expensive, the pockets therein for the merchandise are closed, making cleaning of same diificult, they are of fixed width, and are in a certain number of multiple rows of pockets.

It is the primary object of my invention to provide relatively simple means to'replace the ordinary multiple row display rack with pairs of right and left adjustable and expandable risers which are removably snapped onto supports and are slidable laterally thereon toward and away from each other to adjust for the particular width of the article to be displayed, and of which any number of pairs may be provided to fill the display rack.

A further object of the invention is to provide the removable risers in spaced relation, so that the pockets formed thereby when assembled are, for the most part, bottomless, and therefore self-cleaning, and the shallow flanges projecting from each riser toward each other forming the back and bottom of the pocket are inclined so as to cause the merchandise to always slide forwardly in the pocket of the risers.

A still further object of the invention is to provide the risers so that they can be applied to existing display racks and to knockdown racks. The risers are also nestable into minimal space for shipping.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear in the following description thereof, having reference to the accompanying drawing illustrative of a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of the display portion of a display rack showing a pair of my risers therein, and a single right-hand riser;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of my improved display rack riser;

FIGURE 3 is a rear view of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is section on the line 4*! of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of FIGURE 2.

The display rack risers are provided in pairs, right and left-hand sections, and each comprises a side wall which is coextensive with the display area of the rack.

These racks are usually box like in form, comprising a pair of spaced apart side walls 2 and 3, a front wall 4, which usually extends from the floor or bottom of the rack up to the display area 5 thereof, and which compn'ses that area between the side walls, above the top edge of the front wall 4.

Ordinarily a fixed rack is applied in this area, and thus it has no flexibility for displaying merchandise in packages of varying widths, at least not in an attractive manner.

My invention replaces the fixed rack of the ordinary display rack with pairs of'risers each comprising a side Wall 10, a plurality of parallel dividers 12 formed on edge with the side Wall and extending normally therefrom, and a bottom 14 extending between the dividers so that adjacent dividers 12 and the bottom 14 extending therebetween form individual pockets for the display of merchandise therein. The dividers 12. and bottom 14 are rather narrow in width, approximately two inches or so, and to provide the flexibility desired must be provided in pairs, a right and left riser, so that when facing each other as in FIGURE 1, they may be spaced apart a distance to accommodate whatever packaged merchandise is displayed therein. When a pair of the improved risers is placed in spaced apart relation in the rack, as shown on the left side of FIGURE 1, the pockets formed thereby are terraced for greater convenience in displaying the merchandise.

Between the sides 2 and 3 of the display rack, and extending therebetw-een across the display area 5 are a pair of horizontally disposed vertically spaced rods 16. These provide stability to the sides 2 and 3, as the rear of the rack is open for the storage of merchandise, except for a pair of cleats extending therebetween to further stabilize the rack.

On the under side of my improved riser units are formed a pair of spaced clips 18 and 26, .one on the bottom of the upper pocket and the other on the bottom of the lower pocket. The risers are made from plastic by injection moulding, are readily cleanable, may be clear or opaque of any color, and the clips have sulficient spring so that they may be snapped over the rods 16 and clamp thereabout, but may be slid therealong. When positioned and 28 hold with sufficient friction to maintain the pair on the rods 16 at the proper distance apart, the clips 18 of risers in the selected spaced relation for the reception of the merchandise therebetween.

In the drawings I have illustrated the risers as having three pockets but it is evident they may be made with any number desired, or two of the three pocket sections could be clipped together so that there would be six pockets in line. The variation in application of the units is very flexible within the limits of the area 5.

Three or more pairs of the riser units may be snapped onto the supporting rods in side by side relation, and they are especially adapted for the display of the various sizes and colors of hosiery, and greeting cards. The bottom 14 for the pockets, it will be noted, incline downwardly toward the front of the rack and this insures proper display even though there may be only one or two packages in each pocket. The last package will always be toward the front of the pocket.

in rare instances where the risers are spaced relatively far apart, for example in the display of shirts, it may be desirable to have lengths of U-clips of spring plastic which may be snapped over the upper edges of the dividers 12 and extend over the space between the pair of dividers so as to insure that the merchandise will not bend outwardly between the opposite risers 12.

It is also apparent that the tiers of risers could be double decked, so to speak, and thereby double the capacity of the rack. Also the r-isers may be used in any kind of counter or floor cabinet of any width or number of rows of pockets.

The invention is especially adaptable for use with knockdown racks because the right and left pairs of risers nest together in very small space and thus the whole rack can be shipped knocked down in a relatively small shipping carton.

From the foregoing it is evident that I have devised an exceedingly simple and practical removable riser unit capable of removable application to a display rack on horizontal rails, and is slidable thereon so as to vary the space between the riser units to accommodate the width of the packaged merchandise to be displayed thereon.

It is also evident that the support bars could be arranged to support the risers in a vertical, inclined, or

horizontal plane with equally satisfactory results.

I claim:

1. The combination with a display rack for flat packaged merchandise or cards, comprising a rack including spaced parallel sides, a front wall spanning the space etween said sides, the side walls extending above the top of the front wall, spaced support bars between said said walls, spaced pairs of risers frictionally and slidably mounted on said support bars and having complementary terraced pockets therebetween for displaying merchandise therein.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein the complementary bottoms of the pockets incline downwardly and forwardly so that the meachandise displayed always engages the front wall of the pocket.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein the risers are provided with spring clips on the bottoms thereof, frictionally and slidably engageable with said support bars for so supporting said risers thereon.

4. The combination with a display rack having spaced side walls and vertically spaced parallel support bars extending between said side walls, of a pair of risers, together forming complementary terraced pockets for the display of merchandise, each comprising a side wall having a terraced bottom edge, a bottom Wall projecting normally from said terraced edge, and spaced divider walls projecting normally from said side wall, whereby when the bottom and divider Walls of said pair of risers are L placed together, terraced pockets are formed therebetween, said risers being resiliently and slidably mounted on said support bars.

5. The structure set forth in claim 4 and resilient clips on the bottom of each riser for frictionally and slidably mountin said risers on a rack support bar.

6. The combination with a display rack having spaced side walls, spaced parallel support bars, between said side walls, and a pair of risers, together forming complentary pockets for the display of merchandise, each comprising a side wall, and bottom and divider walls projecting normally from said side walls, whereby when the bottom and divider walls of the risers are placed together pockets are formed between said sidewalls, and clips on the bottom of said bottom walls frictionally and slidably engageable with said support bars for so supporting the risers thereon.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,997,329 4/35 McKee 2115O X 2,198,122 2/38 Hall 211-128 2,821,308 1/58 Burrows 211128 X 2,879,899 3/59 Shenkin 211-55 2 998 884 9/61 Klein 10816 CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

1. THE COMBINATION WITH A DISPLAY RACK FOR FLAT PACKAGED MERCHANDISE OR CARDS, COMPRISING A RACK INCLUDING SPACED PARALLEL SIDES, A FRONT WALL SPANNING THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID SIDES, THE SIDE WALLS EXTENDING ABOVE THE TOP OF THE FRONT WALL, SPACED SUPPORT BARS BETWEEN SAID SAID WALLS, SPACED PAIRS OF RISERS FRICTIONALLY AND SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT BARS AND HAVING COMPLEMENTARY 